Sniffing Out Decomposition

Just because you don't have all the tools and training of a full-time medical examiner, doesn't mean you can't learn your way around a crime scene. In Forensics, award-winning author and TV show consultant D.P. Lyle, M.D., takes each area of forensics–from fingerprint analysis to crime scene reconstruction–and discusses its development, how the science works, how it helps in crime solving, and how you as a writer might use this technique in crafting your plot. This comprehensive reference guide includes: • Real-life case files and the role forensic evidence played in solving the crimes • A breakdown of the forensics system from its history and organization to standard evidence classification and collection methods • Detailed information on what a dead body can reveal–including the cause, mechanism, and manner of death • The actual steps taken to preserve a crime scene and the evidence that can be gathered there, such as bloodstains, documents, fingerprints, tire impressions, and more Forensics is the ultimate resource for learning how to accurately imbue your stories with authentic details of untimely demises.

Death, Decomposition, and Detector Dogs: From Science to Scene, Second Edition is designed to help canine handlers, detectives, death investigators, crime scene personnel (including forensic laboratory personnel, technicians, and supervisors), and attorneys understand the science involved when utilizing human remains detector (HRD) canines as a locating tool. The book covers the basic anatomy and physiology of canine olfaction and the unique characteristics of their scenting ability that allows dogs to be trained to locate distinct odors. Using concise and clear explanations and photographs, the book reviews the science of forensic taphonomy. Factors that may affect the decomposition process are highlighted along with what the potential outcomes that may be encountered. The book examines how the odor of human remains is generated through various stages of decomposition and the manner in which environmental conditions in both land and water settings may affect that odor. Different types of background information that may help in determining possible search locations for missing individuals are included as well as assist the HRD canine handler in developing search plans are covered. Different tools and technologies that may be used in addition to an HRD canine team are included to help readers understand that are many ways to address searching for a decedent. Several case reports involving decedents, found in both land and water settings in addition to different weather conditions, are included to help the reader understand how the environment may have affected the condition of the decedent. This edition includes more case reports explaining how environmental factors were considered in HRD canine deployments in both land and water settings. Understanding which variables—and how such variables—can affect the state and condition of human remains, as well as dispersion of odor from human remains, will help canine handlers utilize their HRD canine more effectively as a locating tool. Death, Decomposition, and Detector Dogs, Second Edition will help HRD canine handlers and other law enforcement personnel be better prepared to meet the challenges of their jobs before, during, and after searches for the missing.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the reliability of trained Human Remains Detection (HRD) dogs in the field. HRD dogs are trained to locate deceased individuals, typically in conjunction with law enforcement agencies, by using their enhanced olfactory systems to detect scents that humans cannot. Limited research has been conducted on both the strengths and weaknesses of these dogs and their abilities to locate human remains. This study focused on one North Carolina based organization that trains HRD dogs. Data were collected by distributing surveys and by observing regularly scheduled training exercises conducted by the organization. The collected data were used to design an experiment. Specifically, dogs were tasked with locating human bone samples buried under four common North Carolina soil types from the following regions: Southern Piedmont, Southern Coastal Plain, Atlantic Coast Flatwoods, and Tidewater Area. It was predicted that identifications of bone by the canines within the various soils would become faster over the course of experimentation, which could indicate an ability to learn and apply new skills quickly. Meaning, that even though a canine may not have been exposed to a specific soil type through training, their enhanced olfactory abilities and adaptability to new environments would make them well prepared to perform in multiple locations, thus increasing their overall reliability. Results indicated that canines responded quicker and more reliably to the soil most local to their training region. Future recommendations would be to continue this research to see if other HRD teams report similar results.

Written in a tone of suppressed eroticism and infused with surprising revelations of false identities, Find Courtney is a psychological thriller that keeps the reader guessing up to its startling climax.

The mind of a serial killer is an aberration to the minds of normal people in society. In The Omega we take a journey into the mind of John Rotterdam—a serial killer who continues to confound the authorities, despite the fact that he has confessed to all of his crimes. We learn about his delusions and the degenerate realities of his mind as he confesses to rapes and murders spanning decades. With twists and turns at every corner, Detective Jeremy Reid must interview Rotterdam to delve deep into his psyche. The Omega is not for the faint of heart, but read it if you dare!

An extraordinary, strange, and startlingly beautiful exploration of smell, the least understood of our five senses The nose on your face is the Buckingham Palace Guard of your body, the maitre d' of all taste, as well as the seducer of your imagination, and memory—and Jude Stewart has charmed them all into a wicked, poetic and illuminating tour of their mysterious domains. —Jack Hitt, author of Bunch of Amateurs Overlapping with taste yet larger in scope, smell is the sense that comes closest to pure perception. Smell can collapse space and time, unlocking memories and transporting us to worlds both new and familiar. Yet as clearly as each of us can recognize different smells--the bright tang of citrus, freshly sharpened pencils, parched earth after rain--few of us understand how and why we smell. In Revelations in Air, Jude Stewart takes us on a fascinating journey into the weird and wonderful world of smell. Beginning with lessons on the incredible biology and history of how our noses work, Stewart teaches us how to use our noses like experts. Once we're properly equipped and ready to sniff, Stewart explores a range of smells—from lavender, cut grass and hot chocolate to cannabis and old books—using smell as a lens into art, history, science, and more. With an engaging colorful design and exercises for readers to refine their own skills, Revelations in Air goes beyond science or history or chemistry--it's a doorway into the surprising, pleasurable, and unfamiliar landscape of smell.

When the mutilated remains of a young woman are found in an Appalachian Mountain cave, newly sworn-in deputy sheriff Brynn Callahan is forced to track down a killer driven by twisted motives . . . Not long after donning the uniform of the McCreary County Sheriff's department in Bone Gap, Tennessee, ex-Marine Brynn Callahan faces her first official homicide. On a cold February morning, a lone cross-country skier stumbles across the mutilated body of a young woman. Sent to investigate, Brynn is shocked when she recognizes the victim as a fellow Traveller, Maura Keene. Maura held a solid standing both within the Travellers’ insular community and among the settled townspeople—a fact that makes her murder all the more disturbing to Brynn, who also straddles the two worlds. After her trained K-9, Wilco, digs up human bones, and then a scrap of paper scrawled with arcane Latin phrases is uncovered, Brynn finds evidence leading her to question those closest to her—and closing the case becomes a deeply personal matter. While trying to suppress local superstitions and prejudices, Brynn discovers that Maura was keeping a dangerous secret. And as the bones Wilco found are analyzed by forensics, Brynn harbors the troubling suspicion that she knows who they belong to. Still struggling with PTSD, Brynn must put her career on the line and her life at risk to find justice for a woman not unlike herself—haunted by her past, and caught in a vicious cycle she may never escape . . .

The Malinois is a very popular dog, which more and more families acquire. It is a subspecies of the Belgian Shepherd, which is also very active and always needs a meaningful occupation. Basically you can say that the "Belgians" are very loyal and well-balanced dogs, but they should only get into the hands of people who already have experience in dog training. Especially the Malinois needs a consistent and sometimes strict leadership, otherwise it can slide into an undesirable behavior. Children should in any case be at an age where they understand how to handle a Malinois. Malinois are service dogs, which are often used by the police. But also sports like flyball, obedience or agility give him a lot of pleasure and he will do everything to please his human. This guidebook will help you to better understand the Malinois and his nature, what kind of "work" he likes to do and how to deal with him. The following topics are discussed in the different chapters and certainly many questions are clarified: - Character trait of the Malinois - Who is suitable as a holder? - What is to be considered with the puppy education? - First exercises and basic commands - Important information about nutrition and health - With 10 illustrations If there is an agreement in the family that a Malinois should move in, you can plan exactly who will do what exercise with him. This breed wants to be kept busy and mentally stimulated on a daily basis. If you can fulfill this, you and the whole family will have a faithful companion by your side. Have a happier life with the Malinois by your side! You will find all the important beginner informations in the book.

Drones are revolutionizing ocean conservation. By flying closer and seeing more, drones enhance intimate contact between ocean scientists and activists and marine life. In the process, new dependencies between nature, technology, and humans emerge, and a paradox becomes apparent: Can we have a wild ocean whose survival is reliant upon technology? In Oceaning, Adam Fish answers this question through eight stories of piloting drones to stop the killing of porpoises, sharks, and seabirds and to check the vitality of whales, seals, turtles, and coral reefs. Drone conservation is not the end of nature. Instead, drone conservation results in an ocean whose flourishing both depends upon and escapes the control of technologies. Faulty technology, oceanic and atmospheric turbulence, political corruption, and the inadequacies of basic science serve to foil governance over nature. Fish contends that what emerges is an ocean/culture—a flourishing ocean that is distinct from but exists alongside humanity.